Haiti Day 5- Construction Material Collection

   This morning we again split into two teams.  One team went to build another foundation.  Since I had worked on a foundation day one I elected to place myself  on the crew to collect rubble and river sand (for mixing concrete) in the dump truck.

Milton in the dump truck

Jeff in the dump truck

 Our team got in the dump truck and we went back to the same site the collection crew had gone to the first day.  A building is being repaired and we were collecting the broken cinder blocks that would not be reused as the "new" building went up.  It was very hot and heavy work as the sun continued to be relentless.  The rubble load went to the house the other team is working on.  After the dump truck returned empty we all got in it again and rode to the riverbed to collect the river sand.  We snaked our way through very narrow streets in order to get the dump truck down to the river.  Being that it is the dry season we drove right down into the riverbed and across the river.  On the other side of the river there was a gentleman working on a large sand pile.  It is much easier to get the sand into the truck with the buckets from a pile than just from digging.  We began moving that pile to the truck and he quickly began digging another pile.  We knew we had work to do.  It takes a lot of sand to fill a dump truck!  Once we filled the truck they drove off to take the sand went to yet another unfinished house located at the outskirts of a tent city not far from the compound.

loading the truck

   We all decided it was a good time to take a break so we walked up the river to sit underneath the bridge.  Not only was it about 10 degrees or more cooler in the shade, but the bridge created a natural wind tunnel to cool us off.  As we had been working we began to attract a crowd of kids.  Now that we had stopped working and were hanging out several within our group began to play with the kids.  It was a great break from the hard manual labor we had been doing.  The man who was digging our piles continued to dig piles even as we rested.
   We waited around for about 30-45  minutes as the lunch hour approached.  Finally, it was decided that we would head back for lunch.  The dump truck had not returned so we climbed out of the riverbed with only a couple casualties (Mike's ankle and Joanie's pants). We started walking along the edge of the river toward the ocean and back to the compound.  I must say I have never seen the ocean from this perspective before!

unique ocean view

   As we left the site for lunch we walked along the river and saw where the floods resulting from the earthquake had washed out several houses.  Many of those families are now in rubble houses a few feet back from where the old houses stood.  The Haitian government has built "levies" made of stone encased in chain-link fencing (very similar but on a different scale to the rubble house construction method).  We walked  along some of the river wall structure on our way back to the compound. By the time we got to these rubble houses I looked back and the dump truck was once again entering the river.  I thought to myself that by the time we get back the freshly dug piles would not be there.  As it turned out I was right.  While we were eating lunch they loaded another dump truck of sand and delivered it.  They came back to the compund as we were finishing to pick us up and carry us back to the river for one more load.  About walking: By this point I had made 8 trips to the first house going 8 different way.  Only one of those trips involved me riding in a truck.  The rest were walking about two miles each way.  The joke was that they never wanted us to know where we were or where we were going.

dump truck in the river with "levies"

   Both crews had a short workday today.  Hopefully, the foundation will be completed by the Haitians.  I would have liked to have seen completion on at least one house while we were there.  We were able to work on four different houses in various stages of completion.  Our team worked on foundation, wall construction/filling, stucco, rubble/sand collection and delivery, and a small group of us got to help with the beginnings of a roof, but not all on the same house.

sand dump at 3rd house

   That night those of us that wanted went out after supper to a local "restaurant."  Jeremy had told us that they make the best grilled chicken at this place.  We left the compound as it was starting to get dark (around 8:00).  Any time before that would have been too early and the cooking wouldn't have started yet.  A bunch of us walked up the streets of town to the HFC, Haitian Fried Chicken joint.  It really was great treat!  I'm glad for the experiences of being able to get out and support the local businesses as well.

Haiti- Day 4 And The Walls Go Up

   Today our entire construction crew went to the house where we helped prepare the foundation the day before.  The first thing that had to be done was to build a wooden frame that would go temporarily on the outside of the wire cages to hold them in place.

building the support frame

   Once three sides of the frame were in put up we started bringing the wire cages over.  The long wall cages (15') were maneuvered around the frame and put into position.  Then, the two smaller sections of one short wall were set into place.  All the wire caging was fastened together with thin metal wire.  The frames themselves are made of 1/4" re-bar and chicken wire.  The wall or basket is about one foot thick and 7 feet high.  Once the three walls of baskets were in place and fastened together we brought the fourth frame and the last two sections of wall over to affix them to the structure.  Now that all of the walls were secured we could begin pouring rubble into the walls.  I climbed up on the end of one wall and Michael McEntyre climbed up on the other end.  After some minor modifications to the tops of the wall we were ready to start the bucket line.

3 walls in place

Andy and Michael filling the walls

   We spent the rest of the day trading places and continuing to fill the walls.  Above the windows and the doors we constructed a small basket with short pieces of re-bar and chicken wire in order to suspend some rubble above the openings.  The ends of the walls also had to be closed in.

Adding rubble

   Jeremy Holloman, Program Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Conscience International (CI)  arrived today.  He is the CI staffer assigned to Haiti.  He shared with the group the philosophy by which CI operates in Haiti.  He also answered some of our concerns about the stability of the rubble houses. The walls are not tied to the foundation.  This is done intentionally and actually adds to the stability of the structure.  The home ways about 30 tons.  It would take an incredible amount of force for the home to slide off of its foundation.  The house would have to slide off of its foundation by 3 feet before the house would begin to crack and that it because at that point the rubble would fall out of the bottom of the wall that was off the foundation.  This is highly unlikely due to the nature of the construction.  Pouring the rubble into the walls from the top causes the compaction of the rubble at the bottom of the wall, thus creating a very stable, bottom-heavy wall.  Added stability is achieved when the roof is installed as well.

All rubbled up

our team

Haiti Day 3- 1st work day

***I have discovered it is very difficult to type this journal in the present tense knowing that the trip has already been completed.  Please forgive a little editorializing along the way.***     

     Up and at'em at 6:30 for breakfast.  This would become my routine for the week.  Actually, I woke up at 5:20 and talked to Joanie about what we have seen so far and the work we had yet to be done.  As a result of that conversation she is going to get me some ear plugs for tonight!  Woo! Hoo!  I did manage to go back to sleep for about 45 minutes or so.  It's not just the snoring, but the mattress is only about an inch thick foam that squishes to nothing. I will have to pull the mattress from the upper bunk down to mine for added thickness.

     We set out today in three teams.  The medical team went up the mountain and reported having seen just shy of 60 patients!  The rest of us are on the construction crew and we went to two sites.  A larger group including all of the young bucks went to the rubble crew.  Jeff was with them and said they filled four dump trucks full including some they got right off the street.  It costs about $1000 unless the price is bartered down to have rubble removed from ones property.  

"our" dump truck

So, Conscience International is actually providing a service on two fronts.  They are removing rubble for free, which also helps them whereas it cuts down on the cost for material for the rubble houses, and then using that rubble to construct a house for someone that needs it.  My small group of five plus our guide, "Pastor," went to dig a foundation for the next rubble house to be built.  The frames for the walls were already on site.  We helped move those out of the way and reshuffled some rubble in order to get started.  

moving the cages

This house will be built on the existing foundation plus a fourth wall where we dug and built foundation today .  We stayed about an hour late in order to finish the foundation.  I hear we may be going to a different site tomorrow.  That would be disappointing, but we will be happy to do whatever is needed.

Preparing the foundation

moving stones "wash" for the new foundation

we dug out some of the old floor for the new foundation

new foundation, day one complete!

     Tonight we will be going to a smoothie shop down the street to patronize a local business.  So far, so good.  The sun is very hot, but i haven't noticed a sun burn yet.  Maybe a little on the back of my neck. ( I didn't get burned.  I have since attributed to warmth on the back of my neck to a side effect of the Malaria medicine.)

     I'm so proud of my girl!  Becca tells me that Nadia misses me, but is telling everyone that "Daddy is not here.  We miss him, but he is doing important things to help people get a house who need one."  What a sweet, smart girl!  I certainly miss them, too when I am away.